Rebecca Cantrell's haunting debut novel, A TRACE OF SMOKE, won the Bruce Alexander Award for best historical mystery of 2009. A NIGHT OF LONG KNIVES, the enthralling, thrilling sequel featuring protagonist Hannah Vogel, takes place three years after A TRACE OF SMOKE, in 1934, when the Nazis have fully come to power.
Rebecca discusses her approach to history, mystery and what else may be in store for her investigative journalist, Hannah Vogel:
A NIGHT OF LONG KNIVES takes place a few years after your award-winning debut novel (and first of the Hannah Vogel series), A TRACE OF SMOKE, and, like all the Hannah Vogel series, deals with the tragic and very real history of Nazi Germany. Tell us a little about this background - what was the "Night of Long Knives"?
The Night of the Long Knives was a Nazi purge that took place in 1934. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, they immediately destroyed all other political parties, removed all state governments, wiped out labor unions, drove Jews out of public and professional life, stifled the courts, and put political, economic, cultural, and social life under their control. But Hitler still did not have the full backing of the Army. The German army, because of the Treaty of Versailles, was limited to one hundred thousand men. The Storm Troopers, under Hitler's close friend Ernst Röhm, had four million. When Röhm suggested moving the army under his control, the generals were worried. They made a deal with Hitler: if he would kill his best friend and the top ranks of the Storm Troopers, they would back him. At the same time, Himmler created a fake dossier accusing Röhm of plotting to take over the government. In response, Hitler started the purge known as "The Night of the Long Knives" killing Ernst Röhm, the upper echelon of the Storm Troopers, and a long list of other personal and political enemies. The true body count has never been determined, but at the Nuremberg trials after the war estimates ranged up to one thousand.
So how far into the future do you see Hannah venturing? How many more books? And since you're skipping years between novels, will there be prequels?
I can see Hannah books at least into the 1950s. I currently envision nine books: a trilogy before the war, during the war, and after. I've written the pre-war books: 1931's A TRACE OF SMOKE; 1934's A NIGHT OF LONG KNIVES coming out in late June 2010; and 1936's A GAME OF LIES due out in June 2011.
But I think there is plenty of trouble for Hannah to get into during and after the war years too!
I've also toyed with the idea of writing a few books set in the 1920s. Maybe something a bit lighter. We'll just have to see where Hannah leads me!
The cover is gorgeous--and features a zeppelin. Does a real airship enter into the plot?
Thank you! I think Forge did an amazing job with it. A NIGHT OF LONG KNIVES opens with Hannah and Anton on a zeppelin that is diverted to Germany. Once she realizes what is happening, they race through the inside of the zeppelin to try and elude their captors. Of all the research, the zeppelin stuff was the most fun.
How did your writing process differ with this, your second book? Any changes to the program? Any specific challenges?
I had to write the second book more quickly than the first (one year vs. two) while doing promotion on the A TRACE OF SMOKE. With each book I have the feeling that I have more balls in the air which, as any juggler can tell you, is much harder than it sounds.
But the research process was the same. This time I found a wonderful fifteen hundred page report on the 1936 Olympics that the Germans sent to the International Olympic Committee after the games. It detailed all the events, the venues, and all the extra measures taken, complete with pictures. I also read further in my diaries from the 1930s: Bella Fromm's Blood and Banquets, William Shirer's Berlin Diary, Sefton Delmer's Counterfeit Spy, and I Will Bear Witness by Victor Klemperer.
You've got a short story featured in the upcoming ITW FIRST THRILLS anthology that deals very directly with the tragedy of the Holocaust. Do you anticipate writing more fiction about this horrific chapter of history, outside the Hannah Vogel series?
I don't know. The research is very intense and horrific. Right now I'm gearing up to research Kristallnacht for the fourth book in the series, A CITY OF BROKEN GLASS, and that's as close as I can imagine getting.
What's next for you?
After A NIGHT OF LONG KNIVES comes out on June 22, I have a YA book called iDRAKULA coming out under my pseudonym, Bekka Black. It's a modernized version of Bram Stoker's Dracula told using only text messages, emails, and web browsers. It will be delivered as a print book, an iphone app, and some other exciting formats. I can't wait to see how it does.
And what's the last book you read, last film you watched, and last piece of music you bought for your iPhone?
Book: Berlin by Pierre Frei (great research and detail!) Movie: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (the 1994 movie which hewed closely to the novel) Music on my iphone: Someone to Watch Over Me by Dakota Staton (the song originally came out in 1926, so Hannah might have listened to it).
Kelli Stanley won the Bruce Alexander Award for her debut "Roman noir" novel, NOX DORMIENDA. THE CURSE-MAKER, the sequel to NOX, will be published early next year by Minotaur. Kelli's second series, set in 1940 San Francisco, began with CITY OF DRAGONS (Thomas Dunne/Minotaur, February, 2010) and features hardboiled PI Miranda Corbie. A short story prequel to CITY OF DRAGONS is included in the upcoming ITW anthology, FIRST THRILLS.
